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Your 12 Best 2019 Links Part 2 – Laugh Again!

In Your 12 Best 2019 Links Part 2 – Laugh Again! I continue what I started in part one. Read Part 1 here.

So where did I finish off? Six months, six links, makes it through June. 

Your 12 Best 2019 Links Part 2 – July 2019

I could hardly decide this month. I had a lot of great videos in July. Check them out here. But I think this one takes the cake.

In light of the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, this video won the race.

Next, on to August’s best link/video/image. Which will it be? I haven’t decided yet.

This also showed up in July:

5 Best SciFi Best Story Ideas
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Oh, with the newsletter subscription you also get:

Free Books!

Just email me and ask for codes to my free audiobooks. Also, I have a drawing for two free books, one paperback, one ebook each month. That’s coming up next week!

Click to get a free audiobook sample

The Best of August 2019

First, you can gander at all my posts from August.

Then, cast your eyes upon this wonderful item:

Not only did we celebrate the Moon landing, but also the development of a real hoverboard–rather like in my book, Paranormal Privateers.

What’s the Best Thing From September 2019?

Good question! Your can read all my posts from September 2019 right here. I chose this one. Why?

I love when science catches up with science fiction. Here I just wrote Paranormal Privateers in 2018 including mind control through skull implants. Then I read an article heading in the same direction with current technology!

Can anything top this in October 2019? Find out in the next section.

Your 12 Best 2019 Links – Next, October

In one blog post, I discussed where I got my ideas for Paranormal Privateers, my third novel. I had to surpass my previous books. I added a surprise twist and I gave two hints. Here’s your first hint:

Your first hint about Paranormal Privateers

Then you got this second hint:

Excerpt from Forbidden Planet

I love these two movies, so, naturally, I included elements of them in my book.

If you haven’t read Paranormal Privateers, let me know your guesses about the plot twist. The best response gets a free ebook of your choice!

Next, 2019 November’s Best

My best in November was my worst mistakes in publishing. These were fresh in my mind, since I just published Oops! Tales of the Zombie Turkey Apocalypse.

However, my first short story book released in November and THAT’s the best thing about November.

And here you have the back cover and blurb:

Your 12 Best 2019
Oops! Back cover and blurb

Oops! I almost forgot! I got a review for Oops! Here it is:

The First Review of Oops!

Oops! Tales of the Zombie Turkey Apocalypse by Andy Zach is a collection of short stories and as the clue is in the title, the theme is zombies. And boy do they come in a variety of different shapes and sizes.

The book starts with three stories that are a starter and not in the zombie genre. Firstly, you are introduced to a world where nothing is heard. Then we move on to finding an elusive phoenix and trying to use its DNA for breeding. Lastly, we have a story about a time-travelling wheelchair.

Then we jump straight into zombies. From zombie pickles, to zombie service dog corgis, to zombie models and even zombies in a nursing home. There is a timeline thread running through the stories where characters that create something or meet someone bring them into a later story. And all of this in a world where becoming a zombie is as easy as ordering blood online!

After each story, the author explains where he got his ideas from, and since in his bio he claims both his parents were zombies, he must be an expert on all things undead. The author has a very quick mind and some of the quips and plays on words were very clever. In some of the stories, however, I would have preferred a definite ending—one where the story doesn’t just finish and you think there is more coming. It was almost as though they were ideas taken from diary extracts with sporadic glimpses into a world of zombies.

From Reedsy

Oops! Review Part 2

After the zombie stories came tales from some of his other books about teenage superheroes. I think the one I enjoyed the most was of the hamster that one of the kids had experimented on and had developed some superpowers. He taught himself to read and was eventually able to communicate with others by typing on a computer. The author very cleverly integrated himself into that story by being the author in the story and the one that the hamster contacted. And of course, we had to have a story about aliens to end it off.

The editing of the book was very good, and I only caught a couple of minor errors. I enjoyed the writing style of the main author and very often you had to reread something because the clever nuances were so subtle you only got them a few lines later. The different styles of writing by the different authors was a bit offputting as you get into a tempo with one and then get thrown off your rhythm by another.

While I enjoyed the book overall, I would still put it in my average category as I wouldn’t go back and reread it. I would, however, recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read where you can turn your brain off from reality and just jump into a world of crazy.

From Reedsy

Finally, of Your 12 Best 2019 Links, the Best of December 2019

What could be the best thing about December? Maybe, Christmas?

The Official Video of ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’

What a great way to close a year by a parody author! I hope your year was wonderfully fulfilling and joyful and 2020 is even better.

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How Do You Keep Writing and Where Do You Get Ideas?

How Do You Keep Writing and Where Do You Get Ideas? I’m glad you asked because that’s what I’ll tell you.

The first rule is to desire to write. I love writing crazy ideas into books, surprising and entertaining people. I truly would do it for nothing. In fact, my net profits so far are nothing.

I loved writing Zombie Turkeys. That way I got to write ridiculous chapters with weddings and zombie turkeys.

How Do You Keep Writing
Zombie Turkey dressed for a wedding. Chapter icon

Then, I sought to top myself with My Undead Mother-in-law. I had to make a new villain, one so evil you would feel sorry for the zombies. I made a sociopath who used cyborg animals to commit crime, like capuchin monkeys, rats, and black mambas.

How Do You Keep Writing
Rat, capuchin monkey, and black mamba cyborgs chapter icon from My Undead Mother-in-law

Now, how would I top myself again for my third book? I hated repeating myself. I needed something related, but totally beyond a mere undead mother-in-law. How about if I put the zombie family on a luxury yacht, give them a letter of marque from the President, and send them around the world fighting American enemies, public and private? That’s a start!

My undead family would be zombie pirates. But that phrase is too common. Paranormal Privateers became the title of my third book.

How Do You Keep Writing
Paranormal Privateers Andy’s third book

Next, a disaster happened.

Ruh Roh! Writer’s Block

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEffUAATOY8

I got stuck writing this book. How could I keep topping myself? My paranormal privateers fought pirates, slavers, terrorists, and prevented a nuclear holocaust. What could come next?

I needed a change, a total surprise. But how do I get there? What did I want to write? I loved 1950s science fiction movies. So I wrote what I loved. That is how you break writer’s block. Return to your passion.

I can’t tell you what I did without spoiling the book, but I’ll give you some hints.

Your first hint:

Your first hint

Now, your second hint.

Your second hint.

That is your second rule to keep writing year after year: write what you love.

I finished Paranormal Privateers two months after NaNoWriMo, in January 2018. It appeared in ebook and print on Amazon and later Audible.

(By the way, you can get all my books at Audible. They’re free if you’re a member. Zombie Turkeys, My Undead Mother-in-law, and Paranormal Privateers. Or, if you want a free copy, just write me and I’ll send you one in exchange for an honest review.)

But what would I write next? I burned myself out on zombies. This leads to your third rule.

How Do You Keep Writing: Write Something New

Where could I go next? What else did I love writing? What did I love reading? Young adult science fiction. Everyone wants a superhero origin story. I wanted to do one of those for my fourth book.

But this had to be different, unusual. Superman got his power from birth on another planet. Batman got his power through intelligence and training. How about an ordinary hero? How about an unlikely hero? What was the least likely hero?

Now I get personal. My daughter’s been disabled with cerebral palsy since her birth. What if my hero had cerebral palsy–and his superpower didn’t take it away?

Then superheroes often come in teams. What if they were all disabled, each with a different disability and a different superpower?

I had my next book: Secret Supers.

Finally: Your Free Books

These offers are just good until October 31st.

First, you get Zombie Turkeys for free. Click here.

Free Zombie Turkeys
Free Zombie Turkeys ebook

Now you get your BIG GIFT: 31 Free books follow and end this blog post.

31 free books for you
Click for 31 free books. Only until October 31, 2019
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Get the first My Undead Mother-in-law discount now!

My Undead Mother-in-law

Get the first My Undead Mother-in-law discount now!

I’m so excited! For the very first time I’m offering a 67% discount on the Kindle version of My Undead Mother-in-law. You must get this first My Undead Mother-in-law discount now. Simply click on the book cover image below!

first My Undead Mother-in-law discount
Get your copy of My Undead Mother-in-law by clicking here!

first My Undead Mother-in-law discount: Try the first chapter right here!

You’re from Missouri.  (The ‘Show Me’ state.) You don’t want to buy without trying a little of the novel.

Wait no longer! Just click on the handy Youtube video of me, Andy Zach, reading the first chapter for you!

“I Want the Audiobook, Andy!”

I can understand that. Listen to this wonderful excerpt on Amazon:

My Little Zombie Pony
Zombie Turkeys audiobook cover. Click to get!

I’m also working on My Undead Mother-in-law audiobook right now in this blog post. with my fantastic voice actors, Phil Blechman and Raven Perez. I told you about them.

How would you like for me to give you free audiobooks?  I will!  I’m committed to giving away a book this month. For Christmas, Hannukah, New Years, and any other holiday that you may celebrate at this time, I’ll also give away a free audiobook of Zombie Turkeys.  Gobble! Gobble!

“How Andy? How do I get all this?”

I’ll tell you! For the My Undead Mother-in-law discount, you must buy here on December 18 and 19th only. You snooze, you lose!


But What About the FREE Audiobook?

That is even easier!  Just go to my home page andyzach.net and subscribe to my newsletter.  All newsletter subscribers are entered in the monthly drawing AND the SECOND drawing for the audiobook.

But again: you’re under a time limit!  This drawing is for this month only!  Don’t miss it, or you’ll be a turkey!

first My Undead Mother-in-law discount
Zombie Turkeys fly to subscribe to Zombie Turkeys Newsletter!

I Andy Zach personally guarantee this giveaway!

Resources
Andy Zach Thinking About book giveaways